308 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



August 



the beekeeping interests of the State. 

 He formerly taught beekeeping at the 

 Rhode Island State College. 



In a bulletin, "Beekeeping in Mary- 

 land," by Symons and McCray, issued 

 by the Maryland Agricultural Col- 

 lege Experiment Station, in 1911, it 

 is estimated that there are 5,000 bee- 

 keepers in the State, reporting a total 

 of 28,000 colonies, a little better than 

 five colonies to each apiary. Prob- 

 ably these figures have not greatly 

 increased since that time. There are 

 some apiaries of 100 to 200 colonies 

 and quite a few of 50 or more. 

 Eighty per cent of the bees are in 

 the West Shox-e and Midland regions 

 and over 74 per cent of the bees are 

 in modern equipment, but in in- 

 stances the box hive still persists, es- 

 pecially on the Eastern Shore and in 

 the mountain regions, where beekeep- 

 ing is of less importance. 



Some of the largest apiaries are 

 found near the cities of Washington, 

 Baltimoi-e, Frederick, Hagerstown 

 and Cumberland, probably because 

 these are good markets for honey. 

 There is a good State Beekepers' As- 

 sociation under the leadership of the 

 State Entomologist, E. N. Cory. A 

 tendency exists to cling to the pro- 

 duction of comb honey, although con- 

 ditions over the State as a whole are 

 such that a good grade of comb honey 

 cannot be secured. Where clover is 

 in dependable amounts, however, 

 comb-honey production is profitable. 

 The average yield of honey per 

 colony is about 30 pounds, a low 

 yield, due to the fact that the honey 

 flow comes extremely early, betore 

 the colonies are sufficiently strong to 

 take advantage of it. When colonies 

 are wintered as they should be, brood- 

 rearing usually starts in March. Ma- 

 ples bloom in April, followed by fruit 

 and other early sources of nectar and 

 pollen. Tulip-poplar comes in early 

 May and is succeeded by clover in 

 June. In July and August there is a 

 long dearth, often with honeydew 

 in unwelcome abundance, followed by 

 a flow from the usual fall flowers. 



This gives sufficient surplus for win- 

 ter but not for spring brood-rearing, 

 and about once in four or five years 

 an unusually cold winter, with few 

 flight days, causes a consequent heavy 

 loss of bees. The season following 

 such a winter is often a good one for 

 honey production and naturally, un- 

 der these conditions, only the careful 

 beekeeper gets a crop. 



One hundred pounds per colony is 

 not unusual when the bees are in the 

 right condition. 



The Nectar Sources 



Maples — Acer saccharum, sugar 

 maple, April. Important in the upper 

 Midland. 



Acer rubrum, red maple, April. 

 General. 



Acer saccharinum, soft maple, 

 April. 



All important in early brood-rear- 

 ing. 



The writer has also seen nectar in 

 the supers in considerable amounts in 

 the vicinity of Washington from 

 plantings of Norway maple, Acer pla- 

 tinoides. 



Tulip-poplar — Liriodendron tulipi- 

 fera. May 10-June 1. General, but 

 most abundant in the Midland region. 

 Least abundant in the mountain re- 

 gion. One of the most plentiful 

 sources of surplus. 



Black Locust — Robinium Pseudo- 

 acacia. Late May-early June. East- 

 ern Shore, Carroll and Montgomery 

 Counties, Hagerstown Valley and 

 Cumberland hills, only on slopes in 

 mountain region. This is an uncer- 

 tain source, but when it does yield the 

 flow is abundant. In 1920 the bloom 

 was unusually heavy and large 

 amounts of honey were obtained from 

 locust. The honey is white and of 

 fine flavor. 



White clover — Trifolium repens. 

 June. General except in forest re- 

 gion. Depends on weather conditions 

 but gives a fair crop one year in 

 three. 



Alsike clover — Trifolium hybridum. 

 June. Coming into use generally in 

 fai-m practices and also does well 



where white clover is not of much im- 

 portance. 



Basswood or Linden — Tilia ameri- 

 cana. May-June. Midland, Blue 

 Ridge, North Mountains and Tonolo- 

 way Ridge. About Roundtop, south- 

 west of Hancock, linden is often 15 

 to 20 per cent of the stand. It is of- 

 ten common in the mountain zone, 

 but is scarce on the ridges. 



Sumac — Rhus sp. July-August. In 

 restricted locations in the West 

 Shore, Midland and Mountain regions. 



Chestnut — Castanea dentata. Au- 

 gust. Abundant, especially on the 

 hills and in the mountain region. 

 This is a questionable source of nec- 

 tar, but many beekeepers claim to se- 

 cure a yield from it. 



Sweet clover — Melilotus alba. 

 From July on. Important on Eastern 

 Shore and around the bay. Some 

 sweet clover is also found in the Mid- 

 land. 



Blue thistle, or Viper's bugloss — ■ 

 Echium vulgare. July. Most import- 

 ant on fallow valley soils in upper 

 Midland. 



Buckwheat — Fagopyrum Esculen- 

 tum. August-September. In extreme 

 west only. Does well on soils suited 

 to red spruce, and the latter is most 

 abundant in Garrett County. 



Goldenrod — Solidago sp. August- 

 September. General. 



Aster — Aster sp. September-Octo- 

 ber. General. 



Joe-pye weed or boneset — Eupa- 

 torium purpureum. Lowlands, both 

 shores and Midland. 



Sweet pepper bush — Clethra 

 folia. East shore along coast. 



Professor E. N. Cory, of the 

 versity of Maryland, is well acquaint- 

 ed with the nectar resources of the 

 State, and he makes the following ad- 

 ditions to the honey plants: 



Common chickweed — Alsine media; 

 winter cress — Barbarea stricta ; dan- 

 delion — Taraxicum Taraxicum; crim- 

 son clover — Trifolium incarnatum; 

 wild black raspberry — Rubus occiden- 

 talis; black gum — Nyssa sylvatica; 

 hairy vetch — Vicia villosa; staghorn 

 sumac — Rhus hirta; purple milkweed 

 — Ascelopias purpurascens; mountain 

 mint — Koellia virginiana ; mountain 

 sumac — Rhus copalina; narrow-leaved 

 mountain mint — Koellia flexuosa; 

 muskmelon — Cucumis melo. 



alni- 

 Uni- 



A monntain view in Wcsti-rn Maryland. 



HOME-MADE ELECTRIC IMBED- 

 DING DEVICE 



By Ransom A. Race 

 Electricity has supplanted the older 

 methods of imbedding the wires in 

 the foundation, but even with the use 

 of electricity, we have had our trou- 

 bles, and any simple way of giving a 

 flexible use of the current has not 

 come to my notice in any of the jour- 

 nals. 



I have ti-ied flatirons, toasters, light 

 dimmers and vai-ious lengths of iron 

 wire put into the circuit as resistance. 

 They do the work very well as long as 

 we have one length and size of wire 

 to set. If we want to set two wires 

 in a shallow frame or four wires in 

 a Langstroth frame or six wires in a 

 Jumbo frame or an oblique wire in 

 any frame, a great deal of fussing 

 and figuring are necessary in order 



